entrepreneur

It’s a pretty big deal here in the United States, along with 143 other countries. If you are, by chance, in NYC this weekend, consider swinging by the United Nations or Athleta Union Square for some Women’s Entrepreneurship Day (#ChooseWomen) celebrations!

As a female entrepreneur, I’m pretty stoked about Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, as my entrepreneurial experience has been quite empowering. Not only did starting my own business help me achieve class mobility and higher education, but it also provided more freedom and resources for my family’s future.

Working from the comforts of a home office may sounds like a dream come true to most commute-weary professionals – virtual conference calls snuggled up to your pup, no more office-sponsored political coups, and enjoying all that extra time that doesn’t get eaten up by burning rubber back and forth, back, and forth, back and forth.

Ahhhh, heaven.

Transitioning to the ever-growing status of a work from home (WFH) professional can be incredibly liberating; however, like most work transitions, it can require a unique strategy to maximize productivity and keep you from feeling like you live in the office.

Here are three tips to help turn your WFH situation into am empowering career move:

Starting my own business in my early twenties with a laptop, communal Wi-Fi, and student loans, I quickly learned that it’s not what you know, it’s who you know (and I didn’t know anybody).

With limited funds and even less finesse, I struggled to connect with other professionals in my industry. I felt subconscious about my company’s early stage status and was almost convinced no one would ever hire me to market their brand. I knew networking was really important (I mean, it’s in all the business books), but armed with just with a well-worn Target suit, a couple dozen self-printed business cards, and an almost maxed out credit card, I wasn’t exactly positioned to network with the pros, or so I thought.

The Koch-inspired billionaire who headquartered his company in Missouri (of all places), lived in a modest house with his wife, and spent his free time roaming the Ozarks bird watching? Despite living thousands of miles away from politic power houses and industry hubs, Tusk’s enterprises extended their reach into international markets from the Show Me State, all the way to China.

While I’m not much like Gerald McCraney’s House of Cards character (we exist in totally different tax brackets), we do have one similarity – running a business from the middle of nowhere.
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Throughout business school, I carefully researched up and coming metro areas and startup communities, trying to identify the “perfect” place to headquarter my consulting firm. Continue Reading…

We’ve all been there – stuck in a job that (barely) pays the bills while sucking your very last ounce of inspiration and ambition with every passing hour.
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Dead-end jobs aren’t anything new to 20 and 30-something’s that started their career mid-recession. On one hand, we were grateful for the paycheck (those didn’t come easy early 2000’s); on the other hand, we couldn’t believe our educational pursuits had left us stranded amidst a sea of literally-no-future positions.

If you find yourself clocking hours in a position that inspires reoccurring nightmares of spending twenty years doing the same drab thing, with the same drab people, in the same drab company, don’t fret!

There is hope.

Here are three things you can do when find yourself stuck in a dead-end job, besides the lunch hour/after hours job hunt (because that’s a given, right?): Continue Reading…

Sometimes you just hit the jackpot – a dream client that is a pleasure to work with sends you fabulous referrals, and always pays on time.

Other times, you find yourself tethered to a client from hell – a psychopathic cheapskate that’s a grab bag of ageism, sexism, and racism, threatens to slander your business name and is always late on their bill.

Joy.
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Mean clients have a way of taking something you love – your work, your company, and your entrepreneurial lifestyle – and turning it into a complete nightmare. The dark clouds of doom these bad clients bring along with them leave you second guessing your skills, your career, and even yourself.

Don’t let mean clients ruin your business.

Follows these three tips for dealing with mean clients successfully and enjoy the benefits of business again:

Kansas City’s one of those surprising Midwestern entrepreneurial hubs, at least that’s what I’m told when networking in NYC and SoCal.

A quick look at Kansas City’s industrial history, especially within the realm of agriculture and energy, will reveal ample evidence supporting the City of Fountains’ long standing tradition of entrepreneurial innovation.

In 2015, Cushman & Wakefield ranked Kansas City (KC) as one of the top tech cities in the nation. Since then, KC has continued to maintain top rankings in the realm of entrepreneurship and technology, proving there’s more to this former-flyover city than may initially meet the eye.
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As a non-Midwestern native, I met KC’s recent headlining as “America’s Most Entrepreneurial City” with great skepticism. I’d previously regarded the KC area as a landlocked metro surrounded by wheat fields, and inhabited by 1980’s-era conservatives. Continue Reading…

In fact, a lot of the work during the early growth stages just, well, sucks.

Yes, you read that right.

Startups can be stressful; however, the sucky, pull-your-hair-out growth stage isn’t forever. In fact, the not-so-fun startup phase can provide you a lot of information about both your business and your market – what works and what doesn’t work – that will shape your company’s future. Being able to weather the startup storm, and respond to the growing pains of your baby biz can be a “make it or break it” phase of your entrepreneurial career.

Maybe it’s because that’s where I spent all my time; maybe it’s because I’m just lazy on the friend-making arena and never wanted to venture out.

Or maybe I’m one of those people – the kind that prefers all socialization to be task oriented. I seem to recall a name for that from my undergrad psychology classes…

Anyway, I’m quite limited on the friend making means, something that forced an abrupt realization when I left my job and grad school to work for myself – alone, as a “solopreneur”.
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While not having to deal with annoying coworkers, overbearing bosses, and other workplace antics beautifully illustrated on almost any episode of The Office, was nice, I did miss my work friends. While these friendships were rarely close, they were convenient and predictable. Continue Reading…

About Me

Hannah Becker is a Millennial Career, Lifestyle, and Travel Blogger living on a working cattle ranch in Kansas. She’s an MBA Grad, College Professor, and Marketing Consultant that’s a passionate advocate for the needs of family and veteran caregivers. Married to a Military Officer, Hannah is a soon-to-be Mom, modern-day cowgirl, and an avid equestrian.